IBM extends new capabilities and enhancements with IBM i 7.4 Technology Refresh 8

IBM Latin America Software Announcement LP23-0092
April 11, 2023

Table of contents

	Overview		Technical information
	Key requirements		Ordering information
	Planned availability date		Terms and conditions
	Description		Prices
	Program number		Regional availability
	Publications

Overview

IBM® i, one of the three operating systems that run on IBM Power® servers, is a platform designed to adapt to the needs of business computing, with the expectation that both business and computing will change over time.

As the overall computing industry moves to provide businesses with various licensing models, IBM offers new subscription licensing for more IBM i Licensed Program Products (LPPs). Subscription terms offer various durations that enable you to pick the time frame that suits your business needs. Additionally, subscription terms provide flexibility at the end of the term to renew or resize.

With IBM i 7.4 Technology Refresh 8 (TR8), IBM adds new capabilities to some parts of the portfolio and enhancements to others, all designed to deliver greater performance, improved ease-of-use, and increased efficiency to every user.

IBM i operating system

There are many enhancements to the base IBM i 7.4 operating system, including the following components:

The integrated REST API engine contained within the IBM i Integrated Web Services Server (IWS) is adding new features to the REST and SOAP API support contained within IWS. Additionally, the IBM i Remote System Explorer API (RSE API) is a new interface that enables clients to work with various components on the IBM i host system.
IBM Navigator for i contains new features that enable both users and system administrators to access, manage, and monitor the IBM i environments.
IBM i exploits selected offerings from IBM Power to ensure you have the hardware and virtualization capabilities you need to run your business.

IBM Db2® for i

Db2 for i, the integrated database for IBM i, includes new and enhanced capabilities for Structured Query Language (SQL) application developers, database engineers, and anyone interested in modern, advanced systems and security management techniques.

IBM i Services

IBM i Services, the SQL alternative to APIs and CL commands, continue to be a focal point for enhancements, providing increased productivity and insight to all IBM i users. SQL continues the journey from being the language of the database to becoming the language of data on IBM i

IBM Portable Application Solutions Environment for i (PASE for i) and open source

There are enhancements to open-source application development tools and improved compression support for PASE. There is increased focus on providing open-source alternatives to the IBM WebSphere® Application Server for providing application serving requirements.

Licensed Program Products (LPPs)

IBM PowerHA® SystemMirror® for i 7.4 (5770-HAS)

IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i 7.4 delivers several enhancements to the PowerHA portfolio, focused on simplification and increased agility and adaptability. Additionally, PowerHA for i is providing the ability to replicate up to six nodes.

IBM Backup, Recovery and Media Services for i (BRMS) (5770-BR1)

BRMS adds new functions, such as save and restore enhancements and networking capabilities.

IBM Db2 Mirror for i (5770-DBM)

In this technology refresh, IBM Db2 Mirror for i (Db2 Mirror) adds a variety of enhancements to improve the overall user experience.

IBM Rational® Development Studio for i (5770-WDS)

IBM Rational Development Studio for i adds new features to both the RPG and COBOL compilers, including enhancements to %split and string manipulation using %Left and %right as well as some new command partners on CRTBNDRPG and CRTRPG MOD commands to allow the record length of temporary files.

IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS 1.1.9.2)

ACS 1.1.9.2 adds new useability enhancements for running SQL scripts for system management operations.

IBM i Modernization Engine for Lifecycle Integration (Merlin)

In addition to the recently announced subscription option for acquiring Merlin, additional capabilities have been added to Merlin in this technology refresh. For more information about the subscription offering, see Software Announcement LP23-0050, dated February 14, 2023.

Direct attach to 8 GB tape backup products

IBM i running on Power10 platforms adds a new method to directly connect to a variety of 8 Gbps Fibre Channel tape products without the costs and complexity of a SAN switch.

Key requirements

IBM i 7.4 TR8 is supported on selected IBM Power servers with IBM Power10, IBM Power9®, and IBM Power8® technology-based processors.

Clients using servers with previous-generation processors need to move to newer systems to take advantage of the features in IBM i 7.4.

For up-to-date information on all types of code levels needed for support of a particular feature, see the IBM Prerequisites website.

See the Technical Information section for specific hardware and software prerequisites.

Planned availability date

May 5, 2023, except for PowerHA SystemMirror for i (5770-HAS).
PowerHA SystemMirror for i (5770-HAS) is June 23, 2023.

Availability within a country is subject to local legal requirements.

Description

The IBM i 7.4 TR8 offers many new capabilities and enhancements to the portfolio.

For technical details for IBM i enhancements delivered with IBM i 7.4 TR8, see the IBM i Technology Updates wiki.

To make it easy to find IBM i 7.4 TR8-specific enhancements, see the aggregated list of enhancements on the IBM i 7.4 TR8 wiki landing page.

IBM i operating system

The base IBM i operating system has several new capabilities.

IWS

The IWS support within IBM i provides an industry-standard and secure platform for creating and hosting REST and SOAP APIs and being able to call REST and SOAP APIs from native ILE applications.

IWS server: Create and host REST or SOAP APIs

The IWS server provides a robust and easy-to-use REST-based or SOAP-based API to create a hosting environment for IBM i. It offers a simpler way to expose key ILE programs and service programs as REST APIs. Additionally, you can wrapper well-formed SQL with a REST API call, no longer needing to have the ODBC or JDBC connections open externally. This integrated REST API engine continues to adopt the latest in industry standards and functions to provide REST capabilities that meet the many diverse needs of IBM i applications:

Ability to specify PATCH as an HTTP method for an API. Now users can specify the following supported HTTP methods:
- POST
- PUT
- GET
- DELETE
- PATCH
Ability to specify "inputoutput" web service parameters for ILE programs and service programs for REST APIs. Previously, users had to choose between input or output.
Support for the "boolean" data type
Improved web administration GUI for managing web services, including filtering of web services

IWS client: Call REST or SOAP APIs from native ILE applications

The IWS client for ILE provides an easy way to call SOAP and REST APIs from native ILE applications. The latest updates include:

Support for binary payloads using the transport API. Previously, the transport API only allowed the sending and receiving of textual data.
Ability to set connect and I/O timeout values with millisecond granularity. Previously, the timeout value had to be specified in seconds.

The latest updates and enhancements for IWS can be found at the IWS Technologies Update page.

RSE API

The RSE API is a REST-based interface for calling and accessing information on IBM i. Connecting systems, ecosystems, and applications continues to be done through REST APIs. REST is an industry standard for providing connections between entities in a safe, secure, and easily understood methodology. The RSE API is a new interface being included as part of the IBM i operating system. This support is a collection of REST APIs that enable clients to work with various components on the IBM i host system, including SQL tables, integrated file system files, CL commands, jobs, and more. The REST APIs run in an HTTP admin5 server job and require authentication and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to be configured before this new interface can be used.

The latest updates and enhancements for the RSE API can be found at the IWS Technologies Update page.

IBM Navigator for i

New tasks and features for administrators include the following:

General Navigator updates
- Customized table filtering
- Formatting and color coding of SQL when displayed
- QSYSOPR multisystem view and respond
Networking
- DNS server configuration and management support
- Support for new debug server and service
- DDM server configurations
- Net server configurations
Integrated file system
- File upload
- File download
- New table tab for displaying a directory node
- Improved object properties
Server
- System status - printable property page
- Additional properties included
Work management
- Enhanced pre-start job support
Security
- Cryptographic services support
Advanced job scheduler
- Additional features added

Db2 for i

SQL enhancements

As with previous technology refreshes, Db2 for i continues the theme of enhancing SQL, the language of the database, as shown below:

The popular SQL HTTP RESTful services functions, found in QSYS2, are enhanced again. The original support uses a character large object (CLOB) as the data type for the request and response messages. Now, there is an alternative for those who prefer to use binary large object (BLOB) instead. HTTP_DELETE_BLOB, HTTP_GET_BLOB, HTTP_PATCH_BLOB, HTTP_POST_BLOB, and HTTP_PUT_BLOB are added to QSYS2, along with verbose versions of these functions.
For information on additional enhancements, see the IBM i Technology Updates wiki.

Db2 for i Services

Db2 for i Services are SQL procedures, functions, or views that enable clients to have advanced techniques for managing the database.

New or enhanced Db2 for i Services include:

SYSFILES, the SQL alternative to the Display File Description (DSPFD) CL command, is enhanced to return more detail. For logical files, a new column will return information about the files that the logical file is based upon in JSON format.
RDB_ENTRY_INFO is a new view that provides detail about relational database (RDB) directory entries. The view is an alternative to using the Display RDB Directory Entries (DSPRDBDIRE) CL command.
For information on additional enhancements, see the IBM i Technology Updates wiki.

IBM i Services

IBM i Services, the strategic method for gaining access to IBM i objects, system information, and more, continues to grow. Leveraging the power of SQL and the Db2 for i SQL Query Engine (SQE), application developers, database engineers, and system managers have an easy pathway to explore IBM i objects and data in ways that were not possible with previous technologies.

New or enhanced IBM i Services include:

DNS_LOOKUP_IP is a new scalar function that accepts an Internet Protocol (IP) version 4 (v4) or IPv6 formatted IP address and returns the corresponding host name.
NETWORK_ATTRIBUTE_INFO is a view that returns a single row containing information about the network attributes of the system. The information returned is similar to the detail available through the Display Network Attributes (DSPNETA) CL command and the Retrieve Network Attributes (RTVNETA) CL command.
The SAVE_FILE_INFO view, SAVE_FILE_OBJECTS table function, and SAVE_FILE_OBJECTS view all return information about save files. The information returned is similar to the detail available through the Display Save File (DSPSAVF) CL command.
PTF_INFO, the original SQL service, is enhanced to have an additional column to allow the product option to be returned.
For information on additional enhancements, see the IBM i Technology Updates wiki.

SYSTOOLS

The SYSTOOLS schema contains examples and tools for several topics. In many cases, the master SQL source can be extracted, enabling you to discover the SQL programming technique used to implement the tools. In all cases, the tools provide easy-to-use techniques to accomplish important tasks on IBM i.

Enhancements to SYSTOOLS include:

DEFECTIVE_PTF_CURRENCY is a new view that interacts with an IBM-provided web page that lists all defective PTFs for a specific IBM i operating system release, as well as the corrective PTF identifier. The new view makes it easy to effectively understand this critical systems management topic.
New AUDIT_JOURNAL_XX helper functions and many new table functions are added to SYSTOOLS for specific audit journal entry types, making it easy to understand the archive of security enforcement using SQL or through Navigator for i.
For information on additional enhancements, see the IBM i Technology Updates wiki.

PASE for i and open source

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extensions

Various enhancements have been made to IBM i extensions for VS Code, both by IBM and the community. Some examples include:

New method of uploading files to server in a faster manner
Ability to launch debugging from VS Code for ILE programs
Support for connecting to IBM i environments securely without user authentication
Support for .env files in local projects that are used when running actions
New API documentation in the form of TypeScript type definitions for extension authors to use the IBM i APIs
CL language support inside of VS Code, including content assist, outline view, and more

For more information about IBM i extensions, see the IBM i Development Pack download page.

Application serving

IBM i continues to enable several open-source Java™ application servers on IBM i. Some examples include WildFly, Eclipse Jetty, and Apache Tomcat. WildFly is an open-source version of JBoss®. It is actively developed by Red Hat®. It offers a simple upgrade path to Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP), if needed. Apache Tomcat is one of the most popular application servers on IBM i and has been in use for well over a decade. Eclipse Jetty is a lightweight web server that brings both scalability and ease of use. For more information about these options, see Open Source Java Application Servers page.

Support is offered as part of IBM's open-source support offering. For more information, see Open Source Support for IBM i.

Licensed Program Products

IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i 7.4 (5770-HAS)

IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i 7.4 TR8 brings a new set of enhancements centered around geographic mirroring and the modern web interface.

Geographic mirroring

PowerHA geographic mirroring replicates independent auxiliary storage pool (IASP) through IBM i networking. As the system writes data from main memory to disk, the same data is sent over TCP/IP to the target system to be written to disk, ensuring identical data between both systems. As a result, geographic mirroring provides the same simplicity as SAN-based replication, with the flexibility to work with any storage (internal or external), and is highly efficient.

The following enhancements extend PowerHA's geographic mirroring by providing greater flexibility and improved availability:

Reduced impact on production for changing geographic mirroring parameters
- This enhancement enables changing parameters, such as synchronous or asynchronous communication, without needing to vary off the production copy of the IASP. This significantly increases the ability for a geographic mirroring configuration to change and adapt without impacting the production workload. The following parameters can now be changed using the Change ASP Session (CHGASPSSN) command while the production copy is online: transmission delivery, transmission compression, synchronization priority, and suspend timeout.
Simplified recoverability with the ability to detach suspended copies of the IASP
- In a geographic mirroring environment, when replication is suspended, it is possible to failover to a usable back-level copy. This enhancement improves the usability in these environments by allowing a Change ASP Session (CHGASPSSN) with option *DETACH on a suspended copy of the IASP. This enables operations, including easy verification of the back-level copy of the IASP or the ability to perform a save operation from the target, even when replication is suspended, without needing a to perform a failover.

PowerHA modern web interface enhancements

The PowerHA web interface was made available in December 2022. The enhancements in this TR extend the web interface with more monitoring capabilities, including the ability to see additional information on monitored resources in the administrative domain.

Additional PowerHA enhancements

There are several other enhancements to PowerHA. For more information on these enhancements and to get started, see the IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i wiki page.

The PowerHA enhancements will be available June 23, 2023.

IBM Backup, Recovery and Media Services for i (BRMS) (5770-BR1)

BRMS is enhanced and includes the following:

The network setup process allows setting of two values, "local receives history" and "remote receives history", when adding a new system into the BRMS network. This setting identifies whether history information is shared with other systems in the BRMS network.
The SAVBRM command adds support for the parameter OBJDTL(*YES) or OBJDTL(*NO) to specify whether object detail is kept in the BRMS database for IFS backups. The parameter default value is OBJDTL(*YES).
The BRMS PTF exit program processing installs the BRMS SQL Services when a BRMS PTF is applied.
BRMS SQL service enhancements are added for BRMS Networking, Maintenance Policy functions and copy control group support. These new services give users SQL procedures to set up a BRMS network, control maintenance options run by control groups, and procedures to copy control groups.
BRMS recovery report includes attention-block instructions to maintain the authority of customized output queues in library QUSRSYS during a disaster recovery.

The BRMS 7.4 program temporary fix (PTF) that delivers these enhancements is IBM i 7.4 - SI82233.

For more detail on these and other BRMS enhancements, see Enhancements to BRMS wiki page.

IBM Db2 Mirror for i (5770-DBM)

Db2 Mirror has added extensive improvements to the overall product quality, security, and ease-of-use. Additionally, improvements to the GUI enable administrators to be more productive. These enhancements include:

Using the new Health Center monitor, system administrators will find the tasks of administering and managing the Db2 Mirror environment simpler and easier to execute.
The main GUI for Db2 Mirror has updated some topic interfaces, again increasing the ease-of-use.
Performance improvements when working with data queues.

For more information, see the IBM i 7.4 TR8 wiki.

IBM Rational Development Studio for i (5770-WDS)

Rational Development Studio for i continues to respond to the requirements from the user community to meet the needs of RPG and COBOL applications. The following new features have been added:

For RPG:

%SPLIT is enhanced to enable a special parameter *ALLSEP, indicating that a value should be returned for every separator.
New string built-in functions %LEFT and %RIGHT enable users to return the leftmost or rightmost characters from a string.
New built-in functions %PASSED and %OMITTED enable users to test whether a parameter was passed.
SELECT is enhanced to allow an operand. New operation codes WHEN-IS and WHEN-IN specify the value to compare to or a range or list of values to compare to within the SELECT operand.
New command parameter PPMINOUTLN for CRTBNDRPG and CRTRPGMOD is added to control the record length of the temporary file used by CRTSQLRPGI when the RPGPPOPT parameter is *LVL1 or *LVL2. This parameter is specified using the COMPILEOPT parameter of CRTSQLRPGI.

For COBOL:

The COPY REPLACING statement and the REPLACE statement are enhanced with the addition of LEADING and TRAILING phrases that enable users to replace only the leading or trailing occurrence of a character or string in a record.
New command parameter TGTCCSID for CRTBNDCBL and CRTCBLMOD specifies the CCSID used by the compiler to allow compiling from Unicode source in IFS.

For RPG and COBOL:

Users can add the boolean attribute for indicator parameters when generating PCML.

ACS 1.1.9.2

ACS has been updated to provide significant value for the database engineer as well as the general user that is leveraging SQL for their daily use. For example, the enhancements to Run SQL Scripts include: prompting for statement variables and other general improvements that includes selection behavior and copying formatted SQL to the clipboard.

IBM i Merlin

Merlin, an ecosystem for developing IBM i applications with modern tools and methodologies, continues to react to the needs of the IBM i application developer. IBM delivers additional enhancements to the base integrated development environment (IDE) and adds infrastructure updates.

Specifically, improved CL parsing has been added to the IDE.

Hardware support enhancements

IBM i on Power10 now supports direct attach to 8 Gb tape backup products

IBM i 7.4 TR8 introduces a new method to directly connect to a variety of 8 Gbps FC tape products without the costs and complexity of a SAN switch. Using the 2-port 32 Gbps adapters (#EN1J or #EN1K), a directly attached tape device can now be connected using Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL). The tape device negotiates the connection at 8 Gbps.

See IBM i Removable Media: Power10 tape and optical for a list of supported tape products and configuration information.

IBM i clients benefit from Power offerings

IBM i exploits selected offerings from Power to ensure you have the hardware and virtualization capabilities you need to run your business. Those offerings include:

#ESR0: NED24 NVMe Expansion Drawer
#EN2N and #EN2P: PCIe4 64 Gb 2-port Optical Fibre Channel Adapter
#EN2L and #EN2M: PCIe4 32 Gb 4-port Optical Fibre Channel Adapter
#EJ2B and #EJ2C: PCIe3 12 Gb x8 SAS Tape HBA Adapter
#EN2W and #EN2X: PCIe3 4-port 10 GbE BaseT RJ45 Adapter -- adds IBM i direct attach

Reference information

For information on:

IBM i 7.5 TR2, see Software Announcement LP23-0091, dated April 11, 2023.
Virtualization enhancements, see Software Announcement LP23-0096, dated April 11, 2023.
IBM Power enhancements, see Hardware Announcement LG23-0037, dated April 11, 2023.

Program number

Program number	VRM	Program name
5770-SS1	7.4	IBM i 7.4 TR8

Offering Information

Product information is available on the IBM Offering Information website.

Publications

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Services

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Technical information

Specified operating environment

Hardware requirements

IBM i 7.4 TR8 is supported on selected Power servers with Power10, Power9, or Power8 processors. Clients using older technology need to move to newer systems to take advantage of the features in IBM i 7.4 TR8.

For up-to-date information about all types of code levels needed for support of a particular feature, see the IBM Power Systems Prerequisites website.

For additional information, see the System to IBM i mapping website.

Software requirements

To find the supporting technical details and software requirements for IBM i 7.4, see the TR8 enhancements website.

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